DM stirs his brandy, puffs his pipe, and fiddles with his smoking jacket. Marrow curls up at his feet, near a roaring hearth, beside a now-silent stone in the likeness of a weeping face.
Well 22 sessions as of tonight and level 6 around the corner. I feel we've come quite a ways. We've had a few nail-biting moments and some powerful character development. Players have come and gone, a character even died, and I've managed to squeeze dragons, demons and artifacts in the lower half of the Heroic Tier. There's no question you guys have grown in capabilities and personalities, no two characters quite the same as when they broke out of that circus wagon.
Yet despite all of our accomplishments, I can't help but feel a bit of uncertainty in the group. In the characters, sure, I mean despite everything they are teenagers being hit with things most mortals couldn't comprehend. I'm more referring to players, though, and the uncertainty of plot and story.
We started this campaign in what is called a "sandbox", that is no definitive and driving goal like last campaign's Kill Shalraza! We went from place to place, dabbled in fey cults and drow secret wars and even ended up on another plane. And through it all I sort of felt something was missing, that the sandbox, while fun, wasn't nurturing my need for larger narrative and story arch.
It was at that point I reexamined the campaign (this was around the time of Isabella's death) and realized that the central story wasn't necessarily any external threat or impending event, but you all, the characters, and the family you had created (I also owe my revelation to Dave's excellent rp where he addressed the importance of the group/family). In each of your origins there is something important having to do with family, whether family was a pillar in your youth, a point of angst and emotion, or not there at all. Looking over 21 sessions, I saw that the characters instinctively created their own family in wake of being kidnapped and, despite the wildly differing personalities, congealed into a functioning (most of the time) party. It hasn't always been pretty or very tactical, but you all got the job done time and time again, in lands that hated you, with people that feared or distrusted you. You've stayed true to the motivations of your characters and how they would act with the other personalities in the group and for that I am impressed, proud, excited and hopeful. This is the most organic campaign I've ever been a part of and I am really enjoying it.
So what does this all have to do with the "Campaign Story"? Well, for one I'm trying to underline the fact that, while at times this campaign may seem random or adrift, there is a central theme in everything we do, born directly from your characters, which I'll label as Family. That actually fits perfectly with the idea of Legacy, the inheritance and perpetuating of family ideas, values and accomplishments. You all have some of the most famous, powerful and important people in the world/s for parents (even you, Kaylan, if you consider Fin, Matthias and maybe even a speck of Victoria as adopted parents) and there is a lot that comes with that. I think we are in the process of working through that juicy potential.
Secondly, I guess I'm addressing this because I do owe you all some forms of closure, and myself for that matter, for putting all these pieces in motion. So I've added an Open Quests section to the menu to keep tabs on what we've touched on. I'll see what I can do to wrap up or progress these quests. As it is, this whole Wild leads to Blight leads to Reedthagn leads to Provia has been something like a quest line. I think there will be a great sense of closure once that all wraps up.
In any case, nice chatting.
Classical music plays into a fade to black...
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